Over a dozen birders joined walk leader Steve Bruck and me as co-leader for
the Northern Virginia Bird Club sponsored outing to Mason Neck State Park
and the Great Marsh at the federally-operated refuge. Thanks to Elton Morel
and Larry Meade for lending their talents to the effort. A scan over Belmont
Bay at the state park soon lead to high drama as at least 6 subadult Bald
Eagles repeatedly dove on a possibly injured or sick American Wigeon. One
eagle would pick up the hapless wigeon, drop it as another eagle zoomed in,
and the procedure repeated itself. Finally an adult eagle entered the fray
and carried off the now lifeless wigeon. What could top that? Well, 3
Red-necked Grebes on Belmont Bay came in a pretty close second. There were
signs of spring in the air as chickadees and titmouse began signing. A Brown
Thrasher was spotted on the periphery of the marsh at the state park and
several Wood Ducks were spotted in the marsh. There are still lots of
waterfowl about, but 255 Tundra Swans at the Great Marsh were particularly
impressive to me. Birders found 5 Greater Yellowlegs in the Great Marsh and
one lucky person heard 2 Barred Owls vocalizing at the Great Marsh Trail
parking lot.
Below are the totals for today's walk. The first number represents birds
seen or heard at the state park, the second at the Great Marsh.
Mason Neck State Park/ Mason Neck NWF Great Marsh
Canada Goose 50 / 0
Tundra Swan 120 / 255
Wood Duck 7 / 0
Gadwall 12 / 0
American Wigeon 9 (includes recently deceased individual) / 0
American Black Duck 5 / 90
Mallard 40 / 2
Green-winged Teal 0 / 2
Canvasback 6 / 0
Redhead 50 / 0
Ring-necked Duck 20 / 0
Greater Scaup 0 / 2
Lesser Scaup 200 / 150
Bufflehead 8 / 20
Hooded Merganser 6 / 1
Common Merganser 60 / 40
Red-breasted Merganser 2 / 0
Ruddy Duck 0 / 1
Red-necked Grebe 3 / 0
Great Blue Heron 8 / 3
Black Vulture 2 / 0
Turkey Vulture 0 / 4
Bald Eagle 10 / 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 / 0
Cooper's Hawk 0 / 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 3 / 0
Red-tailed Hawk 1 / 1
American Coot 1200 / 0
Greater Yellowlegs 0 / 5
Ring-billed Gull 20 / 3
Herring Gull 5 / 0
Great Black-backed Gull 8 / 0
Mourning Dove 7/ 0
Barred Owl 0 / 2 (heard)
Red-bellied Woodpecker 7 / 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3 / 1
Downy Woodpecker 1 / 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1 / 0
Pileated Woodpecker 1 / 1 (heard)
Blue Jay 6 / 3
American Crow 9 / 0
crow, sp. 0 / 2
Carolina Chickadee 15 / 10
Tufted Titmouse 11 / 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 4 / 7
Carolina Wren 4 / 2
Winter Wren 1 / 0
Eastern Bluebird 10 / 1
Hermit Thrush 5 / 1
American Robin 32 / 0
Brown Thrasher 1 / 0
European Starling 3 / 0
Song Sparrow 8 / 0
Swamp Sparrow 0 / 2
White-throated Sparrow 20 / 0
Dark-eyed Junco 18 / 0
Northern Cardinal 14 / 6
Red-winged Blackbird 3 / 2
Common Grackle 6 / 0
Brown-headed Cowbird 3 / 0
American Goldfinch 4 / 0
Larry Cartwright
prowarbler@xxxxxxxxxxx
